Should School Teachers Be Allowed To Carry Firearms?

Are our children safe in schools? Not so many Americans will answer that question in the affirmative. That’s so in light of the attacks that have been witnessed in our schools over the past couple of years. The threat is real and the perpetrators are clearly not ready to spare even the children.

With the latest mass shooting at a Florida school that left 17 people dead, both teachers and students were attacked. Such are the events that have seen more people talking and advocating for teachers to be allowed to own guns as a way to protect themselves and their students.

However, some Black parents are concerned that such a move might result in another serious problem. The argument is that allowing teachers to own guns is likely to put the Black male child in danger. We all know what’s been going on between rogue white police officers and young Black males. These officers recklessly shoot Black people and are then let free by our courts.

In addition to such fear, statistics show that Black students are more likely to be punished than their white counterparts. What would happen in such cases if teachers had guns? What would some nervous white woman who’s been brought up to believe that African-American men are naturally violent do if they sense some level of disrespect from a Black male student? Most likely they’d shoot and wait for the courts to free them, right?

That’s what prompted one Facebook user to write: “Serious talk… Parents if you have an African American MALE student in the Public School System I encourage you to purchase an insurance policy for son TODAY! If they allow teachers to carry guns in the schools, I hate to even think about the outcome of this set up! White female teachers and some white male teachers are already afraid of black boys… What do you think is going to happen? And they are going to be justified in killing your son… If we ever needed the Lord before, we surely do need him now!”

In as much as we want our schools to be safe for our children, Black parents aren’t ready to support a move that’s likely to see them lose their children simply because of the color of their skin.